AUTHOR=Asif Tahir , Noor Fahad , Imran Shahid , Mujtaba M. A. , Farooq Muhammad , Fouad Yasser , Kalam M. A. , Uddin Ghulam Moeen 

TITLE=Microwave-assisted transesterification of Litchi chinensis seed oil using extracted KOH from potato waste for sustainable development

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Energy Research

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2023

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/energy-research/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2023.1339601

DOI=10.3389/fenrg.2023.1339601

ISSN=2296-598X

ABSTRACT=The fast depletion of conventional fuel supplies has forced the world to find suitable substitutes to overcome the expected energy crisis. Fossil fuels also contribute to global warming because of their harmful emissions. Biofuels are sustainable and have an environmental friendly nature. Biodiesel can be sourced from both edible and non-edible oils to replace fossil fuels. To avoid a shortage of food supply it is preferred to produce biodiesel from non-edible oils. In this research, Litchi-chinensis seed oil (LSO) is used as a feedstock to synthesize biodiesel employing transesterification with a microwave oven. The catalyst (KOH), used in this research was extracted from the potato waste. The sun-dried potato waste was converted into ash. The produced ash is then dissolved in distilled water, leading to a 34% yield of potassium hydroxide (KOH). The transesterification achieves 92.9% conversion rate under the conditions, including 30% microwave power utilization, a catalyst loading of 15% (W/W), a stirring speed of 700 RPM, a methanol concentration of 70% (V/V) with 8 minute reaction time. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) in comparison with Artificial Neural Network (ANN) have been utilized for the optimization of biodiesel yield, giving efficient results with errors of 0.003% for RSM and 0.005% for ANN. Consequently, the study reports optimized biodiesel yields of 92.9% (experimental), 93.27% (RSM), and 92.40% (ANN). Physicochemical properties including kinematic viscosity (4.4 mm 2 /s) at 40 °C, density (875 kg/m 3 ) at 15 °C, cetane number (53.2), calorific value (38.8 MJ/kg), flash point (175 °C), oxidative stability (6.1 h), and the cold flow properties were determined with respect to the ASTM and EN standards. The findings reveal that biofuels primarily support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 7 and 13, with a prime focus on 'affordable and clean energy' and 'climate action', respectively.